Official Seeking Booze Ban Inlet Commissioner Cites Rowdy Conduct

August 21, 1990|By C. RON ALLEN, Staff Writer

OCEAN RIDGE -- Banning consumption of alcoholic beverages on the north side of the Boynton Inlet was proposed on Monday by a South Lake Worth Inlet District commissioner upset by what she called rowdy behavior.

Commissioner Thelma Moore called for the ban after she visited the inlet on Sunday.

``I cannot condone the drunkeness on the north side of the inlet,`` Moore told fellow commissioners. ``I`d like to ban that.``

Moore said she watched a man fall from the hood of a moving car after he was drinking.

``Luckily he was not injured,`` she said.

She said she called for the ban in fear that such behavior could open the door for legal suits against the District.

Commissioners said they would look into it before taking any action.

Late last year, commissioners lifted a ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages on the north side of the inlet. Before that decision, consumption was limited to the pavilion, a roofed picnic area on the south side of the inlet that is a popular gathering spot.

``The south side (pavilion) is not much better,`` Moore said, explaining that people often drink there and become unruly.

In other matters:

-- Commissioners learned that the State Department of Transportation cannot enclose the bridge over the inlet as they requested. The DOT said it does not have the money for the project. Commissioners hope that by enclosing the bridge with a wire mesh, children would not be able to jump from the bridge into the inlet.

``They used to say half the children in Boynton learn to swim by jumping off the Boynton Inlet bridge,`` Commissioner James R. Warnke said.

Commissioners agreed to appeal to the DOT again for assistance on the matter.

-- Commissioners had mixed feelings about whether they should renew a contract with the Palm Beach Sheriff`s Office. The Sheriff`s Office, which provides security for the inlet at nights, has been under fire from commissioners because deputies sometimes were not available.

Some commissioners suggested contracting with a private security firm or having police officers from local towns patrol the inlet. But that raised concerns about arrest power on county property.

The new contract with the Sheriff`s Office calls for a 7.95 percent increase over last year, which would put the tab at $66,884. No decision was made on renewing the contract.